EP0718593B1 - Device for sensing the displacement of moving members in industrial equipment - Google Patents

Device for sensing the displacement of moving members in industrial equipment Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0718593B1
EP0718593B1 EP95630118A EP95630118A EP0718593B1 EP 0718593 B1 EP0718593 B1 EP 0718593B1 EP 95630118 A EP95630118 A EP 95630118A EP 95630118 A EP95630118 A EP 95630118A EP 0718593 B1 EP0718593 B1 EP 0718593B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
sensing
analog
sensor
working member
displacement
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP95630118A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0718593A1 (en
Inventor
Seong Ho Lee
Sang Tae Chung
Dong Soo Lee
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Volvo Construction Equipment Korea Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Volvo Construction Equipment Korea Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Volvo Construction Equipment Korea Co Ltd filed Critical Volvo Construction Equipment Korea Co Ltd
Publication of EP0718593A1 publication Critical patent/EP0718593A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0718593B1 publication Critical patent/EP0718593B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01BMEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
    • G01B7/00Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electric or magnetic techniques
    • G01B7/30Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electric or magnetic techniques for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes
    • EFIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02FDREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING
    • E02F9/00Component parts of dredgers or soil-shifting machines, not restricted to one of the kinds covered by groups E02F3/00 - E02F7/00
    • E02F9/20Drives; Control devices
    • E02F9/2025Particular purposes of control systems not otherwise provided for
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01BMEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
    • G01B7/00Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electric or magnetic techniques
    • G01B7/02Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electric or magnetic techniques for measuring length, width or thickness
    • G01B7/023Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electric or magnetic techniques for measuring length, width or thickness for measuring distance between sensor and object
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01DMEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVERED IN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G01D5/00Mechanical means for transferring the output of a sensing member; Means for converting the output of a sensing member to another variable where the form or nature of the sensing member does not constrain the means for converting; Transducers not specially adapted for a specific variable
    • G01D5/12Mechanical means for transferring the output of a sensing member; Means for converting the output of a sensing member to another variable where the form or nature of the sensing member does not constrain the means for converting; Transducers not specially adapted for a specific variable using electric or magnetic means
    • G01D5/14Mechanical means for transferring the output of a sensing member; Means for converting the output of a sensing member to another variable where the form or nature of the sensing member does not constrain the means for converting; Transducers not specially adapted for a specific variable using electric or magnetic means influencing the magnitude of a current or voltage
    • G01D5/20Mechanical means for transferring the output of a sensing member; Means for converting the output of a sensing member to another variable where the form or nature of the sensing member does not constrain the means for converting; Transducers not specially adapted for a specific variable using electric or magnetic means influencing the magnitude of a current or voltage by varying inductance, e.g. by a movable armature
    • G01D5/2006Mechanical means for transferring the output of a sensing member; Means for converting the output of a sensing member to another variable where the form or nature of the sensing member does not constrain the means for converting; Transducers not specially adapted for a specific variable using electric or magnetic means influencing the magnitude of a current or voltage by varying inductance, e.g. by a movable armature by influencing the self-induction of one or more coils
    • G01D5/2013Mechanical means for transferring the output of a sensing member; Means for converting the output of a sensing member to another variable where the form or nature of the sensing member does not constrain the means for converting; Transducers not specially adapted for a specific variable using electric or magnetic means influencing the magnitude of a current or voltage by varying inductance, e.g. by a movable armature by influencing the self-induction of one or more coils by a movable ferromagnetic element, e.g. a core

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a system having a sensing device and an industrial equipment's working member, such as a boom, arm or bucket, having two side surfaces, said sensing device sensing the displacement of the industrial equipment's working member with respect to a support member, also having two side surfaces, for said working member.
  • Typical industrial equipment has a travelling part similar to that of a conventional vehicle.
  • the travelling part moves the equipment to the desired place in the construction sites or manufacturing plants.
  • Industrial equipment of this type also includes a plurality of working members for conducting several operations for digging sand and pebbles, digging ditches, loading goods and destroying buildings.
  • Power excavators are representative industrial equipment preferably used for digging. Power excavators have to be carefully controlled to accurately conduct the desired operations. In order to control the power excavators carefully, the angular displacements of the working members such as the booms, arms and buckets must be carefully controlled.
  • Fig. 1 is a view showing the construction of a typical power excavator.
  • Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view of a joint portion between the boom and arm of the power excavator.
  • the above power excavator is provided with a typical device for sensing the angular displacements of the working members.
  • the power excavator 1 includes a turret 2 which is rotatably mounted to the top of a travelling part 3.
  • the turret 2 forms the outer appearance of the excavator's top portion and has a control cap.
  • the control cap is equipped with a control panel, a plurality of control levers and the like. The control levers are handled by an operator while operating the working members to conduct the desired operations.
  • the travelling part 3 of the excavator 1 may be provided with either wheels or caterpillars and moves the excavator to the desired place in accordance with the handling motions of the associated control levers of the control cap.
  • the power excavator also includes a working member part 4 movably mounted to the front of the turret 2.
  • the above working member part 4 includes a plurality of working members and directly conducts the desired operations in accordance with the handling motions of the associated control levers of the control cap.
  • the working members of the above part 4 include a boom 5, an arm 6 and a bucket 7 which move within their own moving ranges.
  • the Joint portions between the working members 5, 6 and 7 are each provided with a displacement sensing device 8.
  • the sensing devices 8 of the power excavator sense the working member's angular displacements and control the motions of the working members while performing the desired operations.
  • Fig. 2 shows the sensing device 8 which is provided in the joint portion between the boom 5 and the arm 6 and is used for sensing the angular displacement of the arm 6 relative to the boom 5.
  • the above sensing device 8 includes a sensor housing 9 having a predetermined configuration.
  • the above housing 9 is mounted to the boom 5 at the Joint portion between the boom 5 and the arm 6.
  • a sensor (not shown) is received in the housing 9 and senses the angular displacement of the arm 6 relative to the boom 5.
  • a bracket 10 is mounted to the arm 6 outside the housing 10 at the joint portion. The bracket 10 is also connected to the above housing 9.
  • the sensor provided in the housing 9 may use a potentiometer.
  • the arm 6 When the working members of the above excavator 1 are operated to conduct the desired operation, the arm 6 will perform the arm-in or arm-out motion relative to the boom 5. The turning motion of the arm 6 rotates the housing 9 connected to the bracket 10, thereby varying the variable resistance of the sensor. The sensor thus detects the angular displacement of the arm 6 relative to the boom 5 by checking the variation of the constant voltage applied from a battery to the sensor.
  • the device detects the angular displacements of the working members in accordance with constant voltage variation as described above, the device is largely influenced by moisture thereby often failing to precisely detect the angular displacements of the working members.
  • expensive waterproof sensors may be used.
  • the waterproof sensors increase the cost of the displacement sensing device.
  • the above expensive sensor needs to be protected by the housing 9.
  • the above housing 9 makes it difficult to change the troubled sensor with a new one.
  • the sensing device vibrates intensely as the sensing device is mounted to either side surface of the working member. As the vibrations cause operational errors to the sensing device while sensing the angular displacements of the working members, the sensing device fails to precisely sense the angular displacements of the working members.
  • US-A-5 363 304 discloses a device for sensing the displacement of an industrials equipment's member, such as a boom, arm or bucket, having two side surfaces, with respect to a support member, also having two side surfaces, for said working member.
  • an object of the present invention to provide a system for sensing the displacement of working members in industrial equipment in which the above problems can be overcome and which is provided with a cheap analog inductive sensor capable of maintaining its sensing characteristics irrespective of moisture and leaking water, thereby precisely sensing the displacements of the working members of industrial equipment.
  • the present invention provides a system having a sensing device and an industrial equipment's working member, such as a boom, arm or bucket, having two side surfaces, device sensing the displacement of the industrial equipment's working member with respect to a support member, also having two side surfaces; for said working member, comprising: a plurality of sensor housings to be mounted to both said side surfaces of said support member of the working member, each housing having a sensor mount hole; a plurality of grooves to be formed for use of the device on both said side surfaces of the working member so as to face the housings while the working member moves relative to the support member, the depth of each groove varying from one end toward the other end of the groove: sensing means fixed to the sensor mount hole of each housing, the sensing means being adapted for sensing the variations of an associated groove's depth and outputting displacement data of the working member; and control means adapted for receiving the displacement data outputted from the sensing means and calculating the angular displacement of the working member relative to the support member prior to outputting
  • the sensing means comprises an analog inductive sensor outputting an analog current signal in accordance with the variations of the associated groove's depth.
  • the sensing device further includes a current/voltage converter adapted for converting the analog current signal of the analog inductive sensor into an analog voltage signal, and an analog/digital converter adapted for converting the analog voltage signal of the current/voltage converter into a digital voltage signal and outputting the digital voltage signal to the control means.
  • Fig. 3 is a partially enlarged perspective view of a Joint portion between a boom and an arm of a power excavator with a displacement sensing device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Fig. 4 is a, partially enlarged perspective view of the arm of Fig. 3.
  • those elements common to both the present invention and the prior embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 will carry the same reference numerals. The above elements common to both the present invention and the prior embodiment are not described in detail in the following description.
  • the sensing device of this invention is mounted to, for example, the joint portion between the boom 5 and the arm 6 thus sensing the angular displacement of the arm 6 relative to the boom 5.
  • the sensing device includes a pair of sensor housings 11 which are mounted to both side surfaces of the boom 5 at the joint portion between the two working members 5 and 6.
  • Each housing 11 is provided with a sensor mount hole.
  • An analog inductive sensor 12 is fitted into and fixed to the sensor mount hole of each housing 11.
  • an arcuate groove 13 is formed on each side surface of the arm 6 at the joint portion between the two working members 5 and 6.
  • the configuration of the arcuate grooves 13 is designed to be always faced to the analog inductive sensor 12 while the arm 6 moves relative to the boom 5.
  • the depth of each groove 12 varies from one end toward the other end of the groove 12.
  • Fig. 5 is a graph showing the output characteristic of the analog inductive sensor 12.
  • the analog inductive sensor 12 performs its sensing operation by the variation of the amount of electric current (Y-axis) according to the distance (X-axis), thereby maintaining its characteristic respective of moisture and leaking water.
  • the troubled sensor 12 can be easily changed with a new one as the sensors 12 are simply fitted into the sensor mount holes of the housings 11.
  • the analog inductive sensor may be substituted with other types of sensors capable of performing the sensing operation using the amount of the electric current.
  • the amount of detected current varies in accordance with the distance as described above. Therefore, the amount of the electric current detected by the sensor 12 is detected in the analog type and forms an analog current signal when the depth of each arcuate groove 13 varies from one end of the groove 13 toward the other end of the groove 13 as shown in Fig. 6.
  • the above analog current signal of the sensor 12 corresponds to the output waveform shown in Fig. 5.
  • the detected analog current signal in turn is converted into an analog voltage signal by a current/voltage converter 14 as shown in Fig. 7.
  • the analog voltage signal coming out of the converter 14 is, thereafter, converted into a digital voltage signal by an analog/digital converter 15.
  • the digital voltage signal coming out of the A/D converter 15 in turn is applied to a microcomputer 16.
  • the microcomputer 16 calculates the displacement angle of the arm 6. That is, the microcomputer 16 detects the angular displacement of the arm 6 relative to the boom 5 while conducting the desired operation.
  • the above microcomputer 16 is provided with preset positional data according to the depth of the arcuate grooves 13.
  • the microcomputer 16 calculates the average value from the positional data outputted from the above two sensors 12, thereby relatively precisely detecting the angular displacement of the arm 6 relative to the boom 5. Therefore. the sensing device of this invention remarkably reduces the operational errors to the sensors 12 caused by the operational vibrations of the excavator while sensing the displacements of the working members.
  • the sensing device of the present invention may be mounted to the Joint portion between the turret 2 and boom 5 and to the Joint portion between the arm 6 and bucket 7.
  • the sensing device mounted to the joint portion between the turret 2 and boom 5 senses the angular displacement of the boom 5 relative to the turret 2.
  • the sensing device mounted to the joint portion between the arm 6 and bucket 7 senses the angular displacement of the bucket 7 relative to the arm 6.
  • the sensing device is used with a power excavator, for example.
  • the sensing device of this invention may be adapted for use with other types of industrial equipment having working members.
  • the present invention provides a device for sensing the working member's displacements of industrial equipment.
  • the sensing device of this invention is provided with analog inductive sensors which detect the angular displacements of the working members on the basis of current variations according to distance. Therefore, the above sensing device maintains its sensing characteristics irrespective of moisture or leaking water.
  • the analog inductive sensors used in the instant sensing device is remarkably cheaper than the potentiometers used in the typical sensing device, the present invention reduces the cost of the sensing devices.
  • the analog inductive sensor is simply fitted into and fixed to the sensor mount hole of the housing, thereby being easily changed with a new one and being easily focused when initially mounting the sensor to the housing.
  • the analog inductive sensor of this invention is also mounted to each side surface of a working member, thereby preventing an operational error to the sensor due to the operational vibrations of the working members while sensing the angular displacements of the working members.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Component Parts Of Construction Machinery (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Length, Angles, Or The Like Using Electric Or Magnetic Means (AREA)
  • Length Measuring Devices With Unspecified Measuring Means (AREA)
EP95630118A 1994-12-23 1995-11-23 Device for sensing the displacement of moving members in industrial equipment Expired - Lifetime EP0718593B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR9436423 1994-12-23
KR1019940036423A KR960024253A (ko) 1994-12-23 1994-12-23 산업용 작업기기의 회전체변위 측정장치

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0718593A1 EP0718593A1 (en) 1996-06-26
EP0718593B1 true EP0718593B1 (en) 2001-04-04

Family

ID=19403247

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95630118A Expired - Lifetime EP0718593B1 (en) 1994-12-23 1995-11-23 Device for sensing the displacement of moving members in industrial equipment

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US5627467A (ko)
EP (1) EP0718593B1 (ko)
JP (1) JPH08233570A (ko)
KR (1) KR960024253A (ko)
DE (1) DE69520556T2 (ko)

Families Citing this family (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR0168992B1 (ko) * 1995-10-31 1999-02-18 유상부 굴삭기의 제어방법
US5996429A (en) * 1997-10-15 1999-12-07 Caterpillar Inc. Earth working apparatus having a sensor assembly attached thereto and associated method
JP2004278288A (ja) * 2003-02-26 2004-10-07 Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd 建設機械におけるアーム角度センサ装置
US7344351B2 (en) * 2003-09-12 2008-03-18 Deere & Company Electronic boom height sensor
US7430983B2 (en) * 2005-03-23 2008-10-07 Deere & Company Loader bucket orientation indicator
KR101685206B1 (ko) * 2010-12-21 2016-12-12 두산인프라코어 주식회사 건설장비의 로우아이들 제어 시스템 및 그 자동 제어방법
US8726529B2 (en) 2012-03-27 2014-05-20 Cnh Industrial America Llc Rotary sensor assembly
JP5401616B1 (ja) * 2013-01-18 2014-01-29 株式会社小松製作所 油圧ショベルおよび油圧ショベルの油圧シリンダのストローク計測方法
JP6619603B2 (ja) * 2015-06-10 2019-12-11 キャタピラー エス エー アール エル 建設機械の作業腕装置
SE1651327A1 (en) * 2016-10-10 2018-04-03 Loe Ab Rotary sensor arrangement for mounting to a pivot arm arrangement and method for mounting a rotary sensor arrangement to a pivoting arm arrangement
CN106759626A (zh) * 2016-12-29 2017-05-31 中交天津港航勘察设计研究院有限公司 一种用编码器测量反铲挖泥船铲斗臂角度的装置

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DE2851942C2 (de) * 1978-12-01 1983-08-18 Friedrich Wilh. Schwing Gmbh, 4690 Herne Bagger
DE3642678A1 (de) * 1986-12-13 1988-06-16 Bosch Gmbh Robert Messeinrichtung fuer drehwinkel und/oder drehgeschwindigkeit
GB2208549B (en) * 1987-08-03 1991-10-02 Hitachi Ltd Angle sensor for throttle valve of internal combustion engine
US5198763A (en) * 1990-02-20 1993-03-30 Nikkiso Co., Ltd. Apparatus for monitoring the axial and radial wear on a bearing of a rotary shaft
JP2736569B2 (ja) * 1991-01-23 1998-04-02 新キャタピラー三菱株式会社 油圧パワーショベルの操作方法
DE4239635C2 (de) * 1992-11-23 1998-02-12 Hartmann & Braun Ag Einrichtung zur Wegerfassung von Ventilstangenbewegungen elektropneumatischer Stellungsregler

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69520556D1 (de) 2001-05-10
DE69520556T2 (de) 2001-07-19
JPH08233570A (ja) 1996-09-13
KR960024253A (ko) 1996-07-20
US5627467A (en) 1997-05-06
EP0718593A1 (en) 1996-06-26

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